Keoprasith Souvannavong, France, Chairperson

Mehman Fatullayev, Azerbaijan, laureate XII Umut - 2025

Askar Yermakhan, Kazakhstan, laureate XII Umut - 2025

Keoprasith Souvannavong is a French journalist of Lao origin based in Paris.

Since 1993, he has been working for Radio France Internationale, where for many years he has covered major international film festivals and key events in world cinema.

In addition to his journalistic work, he has also appeared in films, notably in Tran Anh Hung’s The Scent of Green Papaya, which won the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. Keoprasith Souvannavong has frequently been invited to serve as a jury member and jury president at various film festivals around the world. He is a member of the Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC).

Mehman Fatullayev - laureate XII Umut - 2025.

He is a producer, director, and actor born in Baku. He graduated from the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts with a degree in Film Directing.

As an actor, he has worked on major projects, demonstrating a precise and psychologically nuanced screen presence. As a director, he staged performances at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre, where he showed a refined sense of form and mastery of contemporary stage language.

Films produced by Mehman Fatullayev have received wide international recognition, participating in and winning awards at prestigious film festivals, including Cannes, Tampere, Sarajevo, Red Sea, Message2Man, Oberhausen, Edinburgh, and Cologne.

Mehman Fatullayev is a versatile author and producer whose work confidently bridges local cultural context with an international artistic scope.

Askar Yermakhan - laureate XII Umut - 2025

He was born on December 16, 1999, in the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan.

In 2017, he enrolled at the Kazakh National Academy of Arts named after T. Zhurgenov, majoring in Film Directing. During his studies, he began actively working on professional film projects. In 2017, he participated in the production of the feature film Businessmen directed by Akan Satayev as an assistant playback director.

In 2018, he worked as an assistant to director Kim Ki Duk on the film Dissolve, which became an important stage in his professional development. In 2020, he took part in the production of the film The Education of Ademoka directed by Adilkhan Yerzhanov as a backstage photographer.

As a director and screenwriter, Askar Yermakhan has created several short fiction films: Pigeons (2018), The Love of a Mantis (2018), and Snowdrop (2019). In 2021, he served as director and screenwriter of the television series Uzdik qoiylym for the children’s TV channel Balapan TV.

In 2022, he directed the short fiction film The Neighbour's Dress. In 2025, he released the film Qaran (Lost souls) , serving as producer, director, and screenwriter.